West Ham defender, Kurt Zouma, has been banned from keeping cats for five years and slammed 180 hours of community service for kicking and slapping his pet cat.
Also, the French footballer was ordered to pay around £9,000 in court costs.
The disturbing footage of the incident which was filmed at Zouma’s house and posted on Snapchat by his brother, Yoan, emerged in February. In the video, the footballer kicked the Bengal cat across his kitchen, threw a pair of shoes at it and slapped its head.
His 24-year-old brother later sent the video to a woman he had been messaging and the woman raised an alarm. He was ordered to carry out 140 hours of community service.
Recently at Thames Magistrates’ Court, Zouma admitted two counts of causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal by kicking it in the abdomen and slapping it on the head.
Hazel Stevens, for the prosecution, revealed Kurt Zouma could be heard in the footage saying: “I swear I’ll kill it, I swear I’ll kill it.”
According to Ms Stevens, it looked like the 40-second clip was recorded after the cats were blamed for damaging a chair.
She said: “Kurt Zouma is determined to chastise or carry out some sort of retribution for the damage caused.”
Ms Stevens added that the woman that first saw the footage was so horrified that she cancelled a date with Yoan, saying: “I don’t think hitting a cat like that is OK – don’t bother coming today.”
Following the verdict, West Ham issued a statement which read: “West Ham United can confirm that Kurt Zouma has been handed a community service order following an investigation by the RSPCA.
“West Ham United wishes to make clear that we condemn in the strongest terms any form of animal abuse or cruelty. This type of behaviour is unacceptable and is not in line with the values of the football club.
“Within 48 hours of the footage emerging, we fined Kurt the maximum available to the club.
“Every single penny of this money is now with a number of deserving charities, all dedicated to animal welfare.
“Kurt admitted at the earliest opportunity that what he did was wrong. He has apologised without reservation.
“We hope that now the court has reached its decision, everyone will allow Kurt the chance to learn from his mistake and move on.”
In a statement, the Chief Inspectorate Officer of RSPCA, Dermot Murphy said: “We hope this case will serve as a reminder that all animals deserve to be treated with kindness, compassion and respect, and that we will not tolerate cruelty by anybody.”
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